Controlled display of related message threads

ABSTRACT

The techniques disclosed herein provide a system that can identify two or more independently managed message threads and modify a user interface to enable a common user of the threads to view messages of both threads. For instance, if a user is participating in a first chat session that is displayed within a first message thread, the system can identify other threads that are related to the first thread. The related threads can be identified by a user input or by a query performed by a system. In some embodiments, the system can only search for threads that have at least one common user to the first thread. The system can provide this display of two related threads while linking the threads but not merging the messages of the threads. A data structure can be maintained to control the display of each thread.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/333,004, filed May 27, 2021, the content of which application ishereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

There are a number of different types of communication systems thatallow users to collaborate. For example, some systems allow people tocollaborate by sharing meeting chat messages, group chat messages,emails, etc. Although these systems can be useful for allowing users tocoordinate and share ideas, some existing systems have a number ofdrawbacks. For instance, some systems do not organize messages in a waythat allows users to optimally manage large amounts of information. Whena user has a number of messages within a thread, it may be difficult fora user to monitor all of the messages. This can be particularlydifficult when a user has several topics within each chat thread. Insome cases, a user may have many topics without a thread and hundreds orthousands of messages with a large number of people. When managing manymessage threads, users can become unaware of the different topics beingdiscussed and miss important content and tasks.

The aforementioned shortcomings, and others, can lead to an inefficientuser interaction model and lead to inefficient use of computing systems.If users miss salient information within a conversation, that causesusers to produce redundant messages, prolonged meetings or otherduplicated efforts to retrieve and review missed content, which can leadto redundant use of network resources, storage resources, and processingresources.

SUMMARY

The techniques disclosed herein provide a system that can identify twoor more independently managed message threads and modify a userinterface to enable a user that is common to the threads to view relatedmessages from different threads. For instance, if a user isparticipating in a first chat session that is displayed within a firstmessage thread, the system can identify other message threads that arerelated to the first message thread. The search for the related messagethreads can be limited to message threads that the user is participatingin. In some embodiments, the system will only search for and displaymessage threads that have at least one common user to the first messagethread. The related message threads can be displayed concurrently withthe first thread. In some configurations, the related message threadscan be displayed in a side-by-side user interface that is split toaccommodate a display of the first thread and the related threads. Thesystem can provide this display of two or more threads while linking thethreads but not merging the messages of the threads. A data structuremay be utilized to link the message threads to enable a system toautomatically display the threads together when one of the threads isrecalled. The linked message threads can also maintain and modify accesspermissions for the threads as they are discovered in the search queriesand linked to one another.

The techniques disclosed herein can provide a number of technicalbenefits. For instance, a system can maintain control of accesspermissions for various threads while modifying the display of multiplemessage threads. Security of data can be maintained and controlled atmore granular levels while different threads can be linked to oneanother. In addition, the techniques disclosed herein can provide acomputing device that can effectively display information in a formatthat can allow a user to see a broader perspective of content that theyare sharing with other users. By enabling a system to concurrentlydisplay related information from different threads while also allowingeach thread to be independently managed by a user, e.g., the messagethreads are not merged, a system can provide an organized view ofinformation that can reduce the probability that a user may miss salientinformation. In addition, by linking each related message thread, asystem can also improve its efficiency by generating a user interfacethat allows a user to readily view related message threads as theyaccess the threads in the future. This can help with the efficiency of acomputing device in that a user can spend less time interacting with thecomputer to find related threads each time they interact with individualthreads. This can be particularly helpful when the user is interactingwith dozens of message threads, closes the message threads, and laterreturns to the message threads. In this scenario, links that are createdbetween the message threads can help a user recall the related messagethreads without requiring a computer to duplicate search queries orrequiring a user to perform search queries.

The disclosed system can also increase the efficiency of a user'sinteraction with a device. When information is organized more accuratelyaccording to a user's needs, a user is less likely to miss salientinformation. Such benefits can increase the efficiency of a computingsystem by reducing the number of times a user needs to interact with acomputing device to obtain information, e.g., prolonging meetings,retrieving meeting recordings, requesting duplicate copies of previouslyshared content, etc. Thus, various computing resources such as networkresources, memory resources, and processing resources can be reduced.

The efficiencies of the analysis of a select message can also lead toother efficiencies. In particular, by displaying messages moreaccurately within certain threads having a customized grouping ofmessages for each user, a system can reduce the number of times a userneeds to interact with a computing device to obtain information. Thiscan lead to the reduction of manual data entry that needs to beperformed by a user. By reducing the need for manual entry or reducingthe need for other inputs that are needed to navigate through a largenumber of message threads, inadvertent inputs and human error can bereduced. This can ultimately lead to more efficient use of computingresources such as memory usage, network usage, or processing resources,since duplicative inputs and corrective inputs will be reduced.

Features and technical benefits other than those explicitly describedabove will be apparent from a reading of the following DetailedDescription and a review of the associated drawings. This Summary isprovided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form thatare further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary isnot intended to identify key or essential features of the claimedsubject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determiningthe scope of the claimed subject matter. The term “techniques,” forinstance, may refer to system(s), method(s), computer-readableinstructions, module(s), algorithms, hardware logic, and/or operation(s)as permitted by the context described above and throughout the document.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The Detailed Description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Thesame reference numbers in different figures indicate similar oridentical items. References made to individual items of a plurality ofitems can use a reference number with a letter of a sequence of lettersto refer to each individual item. Generic references to the items mayuse the specific reference number without the sequence of letters.

FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a system that can modify a user interfaceto enable a user common to multiple threads to readily view relatedmessages from the multiple threads.

FIG. 1B illustrates an example of an interface that displays adiscovered thread in a side-by-side format with an original thread.

FIG. 2A illustrates a first stage of a process for linking two or morethreads.

FIG. 2B illustrates a second stage of a process for linking two or morethreads.

FIG. 2C illustrates a third stage of a process for linking two or morethreads.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example of a number of user interfaces displayingoriginal threads, where the user interfaces provide user interfaceelements for linking other threads.

FIG. 3B illustrates an example of a user interface that displays alinked thread in a side-by-side format with an original thread.

FIG. 4A illustrates a first stage of an automated process for displayingtwo or more linked threads.

FIG. 4B illustrates a second stage of an automated process fordisplaying two or more linked threads.

FIG. 5A illustrates a first stage of an interactive process fordisplaying two or more linked threads.

FIG. 5B illustrates a second stage of an interactive process fordisplaying two or more linked threads.

FIG. 5C illustrates a third stage of an interactive process fordisplaying two or more linked threads.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram showing aspects of a routine for discovering,controlling, and displaying related message threads.

FIG. 7 is a computing system diagram showing aspects of an illustrativeoperating environment for the techniques disclosed herein.

FIG. 8 is a computing architecture diagram showing aspects of theconfiguration and operation of a computing device that can implementaspects of the techniques disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The techniques disclosed herein provide a system that can identify twoor more independently managed message threads and modify a userinterface to enable a user that is common to the threads to view relatedmessages. For instance, if a user is participating in a first chatsession that is displayed within a first message thread, the system canidentify other message threads that are related to the first messagethread. The search for the related message threads can be limited tomessage threads that the user is participating in. In some embodiments,the system will only search for and display message threads that have atleast one common user to the first message thread. The related messagethreads can be displayed concurrently with the first thread. In someconfigurations, the related message threads can be displayed in aside-by-side user interface that is split to accommodate a display ofthe first thread and the related threads. The system can provide thisdisplay of two or more threads while linking the threads but not mergingthe messages of the threads. A data structure may be utilized to linkthe message threads to enable a system to automatically display thethreads together when one of the threads is recalled. The linked messagethreads can also maintain and modify access permissions for the threadsas they are discovered in the search queries and linked to one another.

The disclosed techniques address a number of technical problems andprovide a number of technical effects. In for example, the techniquesdisclosed herein provide a number of enhanced security measures torestrict user access to certain clusters of data based on usermemberships of message threads. The restriction of user access and thedynamic nature of also granting user access provides a higher level ofsecurity while allowing a system to accommodate a number of userscenarios where users need to dynamically grant and revoke permissions.

The techniques herein can also optimize interface displays of messagethreads for improving user interaction models and improving efficiencieswith respect to computing resources. For example, by providing a displayof threads that pertains to a thread that is already displayed, acomputing device can effectively and more accurately display informationin a format that can allow a more accurate level of control of howcontent is organized. This allows a system to display more accurateassociations between messages that are stored in separate threads, whilealso allowing the system to maintain the separation of those threads.The techniques disclosed herein provide a number of other technicalbenefits that can reduce redundant requests for information that may bemissed when messages are not organized in a user interface. Among othertechnical effects, the improved user interactions disclosed herein leadto more efficient use of computing resources such as memory usage,network usage, processing resources.

Referring now to FIG. 1 , aspects of a system 100 are shown anddescribed below. In this example, individual computing devices 11 areinterconnected with a communication session configured for exchangingmessages and managing permissions on a per user and per thread basis.Each user 10 is associated with a computing device 11 and each computingdevice 11 can display a user interface 101. In this example, a firstuser group 117A is associated with a first chat session comprisingmessages 151A displayed in a first thread 181A related to a first topic180A. Also shown, a second user group 117B is associated with a secondchat session comprising messages 151B displayed in a second thread 181Brelated to a second topic 180B. The first user group 117A includes thefirst four users, the first user 10A through the fourth user 10D, andthe second user group 117B includes the last four users, the fourth user10D through the seventh user 10G. The fourth user 10D, is common to boththreads.

One or more computing devices of the system can store a container foreach thread 181. For instance, a first container for the first thread181A and store permissions for individual users of the system. In thisexample, the first four users can read and write to the messages 151A ofthe first thread while the last three users are restricted from readingor writing messages to the first thread. Each container can also storedata that identify the messages for the first thread 181A. In thisexample, the first user is participating in N number of chat sessions.Thus, the system has configured and maintains a thread container 181each thread up to the Nth thread container 181N.

In this example, a first user interface 101A is displayed on a screen ofa fourth computing device 11D for the fourth user 10D. The first userinterface 101A displays messages 151 pertaining to the first topic 180Aof the first thread 181A. A second user interface 101B is also displayedon a screen of the fourth computing device 11D for the fourth user 10D.The second user interface 101B displays a second set of messages 151Bpertaining to the second topic 180B of the second thread 181B. Thesecond thread 181B comprises a second set of messages 151B associatedwith a second user group 117B, wherein the user 10D is a common memberof the first user group 117A and the second user group 117B. Also shown,the threads can also display other graphical elements 152 configured toallow access to attached files.

To illustrate aspects of the present disclosure, consider a situationwhere the fourth user 10D, Dan, is viewing the first user interface101A. In this example, the fourth user may be simultaneously viewing, ornot viewing, the second user interface in addition to many other userinterfaces displaying the other threads, e.g., up to N threads. In thisscenario, the fourth user may be viewing a number of threads, onlyviewing the first thread in the first user interface 101A or have eachuser interface in a minimized or close date while maintaining aconnection with each thread.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1A, the fourth computer 11D candisplay the first user interface 101A comprising messages of the firstthread for a first group of users. The fourth computer 11D is associatedwith the fourth user 10D, Dan, who is a common user for the threads, thefirst thread 181A to the Nth thread 181N. In such embodiments, thesystem 100, which can include a server, can receive communication datacomprising a first thread 181A having a first set of messages 151Aassociated with a first user group 117A, wherein the messages 151A ofthe first thread 181A are displayed on a user interface 101A rendered ona client computing device 11D of a user 10D.

While participating in the chat session of the first thread, the systemcan search for threads that are related to the first thread and presentthem to the user. As described in more detail below, the system can alsoupdate the linking data structure 184 to link the first thread 181A toany related threads, such as the second thread 181B. As described inmore detail below, this allows the system to readily display any relatedthreads when the user accesses one of the related threads.

The discovery of related threads can be invoked by an automated processor a process that is invoked by a user input. In the automatedembodiments, the system may analyze the messages 151A of the firstthread 181A to determine if select messages of the first message threadare related to messages of other threads. For instance, in this example,the last message of the first thread indicates the name of a participantof the second thread. In such scenarios, the system may identify thesecond thread related thread and display a graphical indicator 189indicating the existence of a related thread. In response to the userselecting the graphical indicator 189, or in response to theidentification of the related thread, the system may transition userinterface 101A to an updated version of the first user interface 101A′shown in FIG. 1B. The updated user interface 101A′ of FIG. 1B isconfigured to display the first thread and the related threads, which inthis case is the second thread. In an alternative embodiment, the systemcan display the graphical element 189, which can cause the system tosearch for related threads. Once they related threads are discovered,the system can transition to the updated user interface 101A′ shown inFIG. 1B.

The system can limit the input to be received only from the user 10Dthat has permissions to read and write messages with the first thread181A and the second thread 181B. In addition, the system can limit theanalysis of related threads only to the threads that have at least onecommon user with the first thread, e.g., a displayed thread.

The system can receive an indication identifying a second thread 181Bfrom a plurality of threads 181B-181N each associated with individualuser groups 117. In some embodiments, the indication is provided byreceiving a user input at a graphical element 189. In anotherembodiment, the indication can be an event, such as the systemidentifying one or more threads that are related to the first thread.The discovery of related threads can be performed using a number ofsuitable searching methods. For instance, keywords of the first threadcan be used for search queries within other threads. If any of the otherthreads, such as the second thread, contain messages meeting one or morecriteria, those threads can be registered within a data structure as arelated thread.

To improve the efficiency of the computing system, the system may onlybuild search queries using keywords from select messages of an activethread, e.g., the first thread being displayed to a user. Thus, thesystem may only use keywords from select messages to perform a searchfor related threads. By limiting the number of messages that are usedfor analysis to detect related threads, a system may introduce furtherefficiencies with respect to computing resources. In one example, thesystem may only select messages having multiple sentences or multiplephrases. In such an example, any message having more than one sentencecan be selected for analysis. In another example, the system may selectmessages that have more than a threshold number of words or characters.In such an example, only messages having more than a threshold number ofwords or threshold number of characters can be selected for analysis.

In other examples, a system may select a message for analysis based onthe position of the message within a user interface. This may include aposition of a message within a thread or a viewing area, e.g., the lastmessage of a thread or a message that is at the top of a viewing area,may only be selected for analysis. In yet another example, a system mayselect a message for analysis based on a timestamp or a state associatedwith the message. In such an example, a most recently received messagemay be selected for analysis, or a system may only select a message thatis recently composed but not sent, etc. In other examples, a system mayonly select messages that have been received within a predetermined timeperiod, or a system may only select message that have been receivedoutside of a predetermined time period. In one illustrative example, thesystem may only select the most recently received messages, e.g., up tothe last 100 messages.

Other characteristics of a message, such as a format, can be used toselect a message for analysis. This may include a font type, a thresholdnumber of capital letters, threshold number of capital letters per word,or formatting combinations, e.g., a threshold number of characters inbold text, etc. Once a message is selected for analysis, the systemdetermines if the message contains multiple topics. These examples areprovided for illustrative purposes and are not to be construed aslimiting. The system can utilize any property, condition, state or anycombination of factors described herein to determine if a message is tobe selected for analysis. The system can also select certain messagesfor analysis based on the identification of certain categories of words,e.g., the name of the name of certain individuals, team members, teamnames, product names, company names, etc.

In addition to identifying select messages for building search queries,the system may only use predetermined words of the select messages tobuild queries. The predetermined words can be categories of words liketeam names, product names, etc. The predetermined words can also involveusernames or specified usernames such as a person that was mentionedwithin a message. In the example shown in FIG. 1A, the most recentmessage of the thread includes the name of a person that is aparticipant in the second thread. The identification of a person that isa participant in other the threads can cause the system to select thatmessage for building a query using other words in that message.Alternatively, the system may identify any of the other threads having acommon user as a related thread if a participant in the other thread isnamed in the first thread.

As shown in FIG. 1B, a data structure 184 is updated in response to theidentification of the second thread. In some configurations, the datastructure 184 is updated in response to the identification of the secondthread as a related thread. In other configurations, the data structure184 is updated in response to the identification of the second thread inan input or any other type of event. The data structure defines the linkbetween the threads so when one of the threads is later selected fordisplay, the other thread is displayed, or the user is given the optionto display that linked thread. In some configurations, responsive to theidentification of the second thread 181B from the plurality of threads181B-181N, causing an update to a data structure 184 to maintain a linkrelationship between the first thread 181A and the second thread 181B,wherein the link relationship is configured to control a display of thefirst thread 181A and the second thread 181B. Thus, at a later time,e.g., as described below, when the user 10D displays the first thread181A, the system either suggests a display of the second thread 181B orautomatically displays the second thread 181B.

Also, shown in FIG. 1B, the messages of the first thread and the secondthread are concurrently displayed together. This display is performedwithout merging the data containers for each thread. As shown, thecontainers of each thread that are concurrently displayed are maintainedseparately with separate user rights. In this example, the first threadcontainer defines permissions for the first user group, and the secondthread container defines permissions for the second user group. Eachthread container can also include references or copies of the messagesthat correspond to each thread, e.g., the first set of messages 151A andthe second set of messages 151B. The linking data structure 184 cancomprise a first identifier for the first thread and a second identifierfor the second thread. The link can be in the form of a pointer, anaddress, or any other data object that can draw an association betweenthreads that are identified as related threads. For illustrativepurposes, the term “related threads” can refer to threads that have beenidentified by an input, or the term related threads can refer to threadsthat have content that is contextually related.

In response to identifying related threads, in some embodiments, thesystem can maintain the permissions of each user and only show therelated threads for users that are common to both threads. Thus, in thisexample, users that are common to the first thread and the second threadhave permissions to read and write to both threads. The first user groupcan only still read and write to the first thread but are restrictedfrom reading of the second thread or writing messages to the secondthread. The second user group can only still read and write to thesecond thread but are restricted from reading of the first thread orwriting messages to the first thread. In other embodiments, in responseto identifying a related thread, the system can modify the permissionsof the related thread, e.g., the second thread, to allow users of thefirst thread to read, but not write, messages of the second thread. Thismodification can be for a predetermined period of time or during a timein which a designated user, such as the fourth user, permits. Thedesignated user can provide one or more inputs or input criteriaindicating a timeline or criteria for allowing the first group of usersto read messages of the second thread.

As shown in FIG. 1B, in response to the identification of the secondthread as being a related thread, the system can cause the clientcomputing device 11D of the user 10D to concurrently display the secondset of messages 151B of the second thread 181B with the first set ofmessages 151A of the first thread 181A. This transition of the userinterface can occur while the system maintains storage of the first setof messages 151A of the first thread 181A in a first container 182Aseparate from storage of the second set of messages 151B of the secondthread 181B in a second container 182B.

Alternatively, in response to the identification of the second thread asbeing a related thread, the system can cause the client computing device11D of the user 10D to display a control with the first set of messages151A, which, when activated, causes display of the second set ofmessages 151B. An example of this embodiment is shown in FIGS. 2A-2C.

FIG. 2A shows a first stage of a process for identifying a relatedthread. In this figure, the first user interface 101A displays an inputcontrol element 188 which when activated by the user causes the systemto identify a related thread. For instance, in response to user input atthe control element 188 the system can build a query from one of ourselect messages of the first thread 181A and identify a related thread,such as the second thread.

FIG. 2B shows a resulting user interface once the related thread isidentified. In this example, the user interface displays a modifiedcontrol element 189 that indicates that a related thread has beendiscovered. In response to a user input at the modified control element189, the system causes a display of an updated user interface 101A′shown in FIG. 2C. In this example, the permission data is also updatedto allow the first user group 117A to view the messages of the secondthread. These transitions can occur while the system maintains storageof the first set of messages 151A of the first thread 181A in a firstcontainer 182A separate from storage of the second set of messages 151Bof the second thread 181B in a second container 182B.

Also shown in FIG. 2C, the updated user interface can also comprise aninput element, e.g., the “UNLINK” button, to allow the user to modifythe data structure to unlink the threads. In response to a user input atthis element, the system can modify the data structure to unlink thethreads. This causes the system to allow each thread to be viewedindependently without causing the system to recommend the display of arelated thread.

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B show an embodiment where a user input can indicate arelated thread. FIG. 3A shows a number of user interfaces each showingmessages of individual threads. The first user interface 101A shows themessages of the first thread, the second user interface 101B showsmessages of the second thread, the third user interface 101C showsmessages of the third thread, and the fourth user interface 101D showsmessages of or thread. Each user interface can provide one or moreinterface elements 221 that identify other threads user, the fourth user10D, is participating in. Thus, the user interface input elements 221only display identifiers of threads that the viewer has permissions toaccess, e.g., the user is a common member to the threads that aredisplayed as link options.

For example, in the first user interface, the first input element 221Ais configured to allow the user to select the second thread is as arelated thread, the second input element 221B is configured to allow theuser to select the third thread as a related thread, and the fourthinput element 221D is configured to allow the user to select the fourththread as a related thread. The other user interfaces display similarinput elements 221 allowing the user to link while viewing the otherthreads.

For illustrative purposes, consider a scenario where the user selectsthe first input element 221A. In response to this indication, the systemcan provide an updated user interface 101A′ as shown in FIG. 3B. Theupdated user interface can display the first thread concurrently withthe display of the second thread. In addition, the permissions and thelinking data structure can be updated as described herein.

As described above, the system can utilize the linking data structure toestablish relationships between various threads that control the displayof each thread. Thus, once to threads are linked, the system canautomatically display a related thread upon activation or display of oneof the related threads. In the example shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, a userinput selecting the first thread for display causes the system to accessthe linking data structure, which in turn causes the system to displayall related threads. In FIG. 4A, the user provides an input indicating aselection of the first thread display. In response, the system accessesthe linking data structure and identifies the second thread is linked tothe first thread. Then as shown in FIG. 4B, the system causes thedisplay of the first thread and the second thread, which is based on aninput only selecting the first thread. This example is provided forillustrative purposes and is not to be construed as limiting. It can beappreciated that the input can be provided gesture, voice command, orany other suitable input identifying a specific thread that is selectedfor display.

FIGS. 5A-5C illustrate another example where a related thread isidentified key data structure. In response to the identification of arelated thread, the system can display a recommendation to display arelated thread. Similar to the example above, in FIG. 5A, the userprovides an input that identifies a thread to be displayed. In thisexample, the user provides an input indicating a selection of the firstthread for display. In response to the input, the system analyzes thelinking data structure. For illustrative purposes, in this example, thelinking data structure indicates that the first thread and the secondthread are linked. In response to identifying the linked threads, thesystem can display text identifying the linked threads. The system canalso cause the display of more input elements 401 giving the user anoption to display the related threads, declined the display of therelated threads, or unlink the related threads. In response to the firstoption, the system can transition the user interface to an updated userinterface shown in FIG. 5C, where the related threads are concurrentlydisplayed. At any time, the user can provide an input to decline thedisplay of the linked threads, in which case the system would transitionthe display back to the original user interface 101A shown in FIG. 5B.The user can also provide an input to unlink the related threads. Inresponse to this input, the system can modify the linking data structureto remove the link between the related threads.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating aspects of a routine 500 for enablingusers to split message threads into child message threads and managethread formats between a number of devices. It should be understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art that the operations of the methodsdisclosed herein are not necessarily presented in any particular orderand that performance of some or all of the operations in an alternativeorder is possible and is contemplated. The operations have beenpresented in the demonstrated order for ease of description andillustration. Operations may be added, omitted, performed together,and/or performed simultaneously, without departing from the scope of theappended claims.

It should also be understood that the illustrated methods can end at anytime and need not be performed in their entirety. Some or all operationsof the methods, and/or substantially equivalent operations, can beperformed by execution of computer-readable instructions included on acomputer-storage media, as defined herein. The term “computer-readableinstructions,” and variants thereof, as used in the description andclaims, is used expansively herein to include routines, applications,application modules, program modules, programs, components, datastructures, algorithms, and the like. Computer-readable instructions canbe implemented on various system configurations, includingsingle-processor or multiprocessor systems, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, personal computers, hand-held computing devices,microprocessor-based, programmable consumer electronics, combinationsthereof, and the like. Although the example routine described below isoperating on a system, e.g., one or more computing devices, it can beappreciated that this routine can be performed on any computing systemwhich may include any number of computers working in concert to performthe operations disclosed herein.

Thus, it should be appreciated that the logical operations describedherein are implemented as a sequence of computer implemented acts orprogram modules running on a computing system such as those describedherein and/or as interconnected machine logic circuits or circuitmodules within the computing system. The implementation is a matter ofchoice dependent on the performance and other requirements of thecomputing system. Accordingly, the logical operations may be implementedin software, in firmware, in special purpose digital logic, and anycombination thereof.

Additionally, the operations illustrated in FIG. 6 and the other FIGUREScan be implemented in association with the example presentation userinterfaces UI described above. For instance, the various devices and/ormodules described herein can generate, transmit, receive, and/or displaydata associated with content of a communication session e.g., livecontent, broadcasted event, recorded content, etc. and/or a presentationUI that includes renderings of one or more participants of remotecomputing devices, avatars, channels, chat sessions, video streams,images, virtual objects, and/or applications associated with acommunication session.

The routine 500 includes an operation 502 where the system can receivecommunication data comprising a first thread 181A having a first set ofmessages 151A associated with a first user group 117A. The communicationdata can include messages and a thread container which can defineparameters in which a thread is displayed. The thread container can alsocomprise permission data defining user identities and associatedpermissions for each identity.

At operation 504, the messages 151A of the first thread 181A can bedisplayed on a user interface 101A rendered on a client computing device11D of a user 10D. FIG. 1A shows an example of a user interface having afirst thread for a first group of users. The user interface is displayedto a user, the fourth user, Dan, who is common to multiple threadsincluding the second thread that is identified as a related thread.

At operation 506, the system can receive an indication identifying asecond thread 181B from a plurality of threads 181B-181N each associatedwith individual user groups 117. The indication can be a user inputidentifying the second thread. Alternatively, the indication can be theresult of a search threads based on a query. The query can be built fromkeywords or other content shared within messages of the first thread.The keywords or other content can originate from select messages of thefirst thread, where the select messages can be determined based on oneor more criteria disclosed herein.

In some configurations, the indication is provided by a user 10D thathas permissions to read and write messages with the first thread 181Aand the second thread 181B, wherein the indication is provided byreceiving a user input at a graphical element 189, wherein the secondthread 181B comprises a second set of messages 151B associated with asecond user group 117B, wherein the user 10D is a common member of thefirst user group 117A and the second user group 117B. The search forrelated threads can be limited to threads that only has a common userwith the first thread. For instance, a plurality of threads may besearched only if the plurality of threads have a common user with thefirst thread, e.g., Dan is a participant in each of the plurality ofthreads.

At operation 508, the system can update a data structure 184 to maintaina link relationship between the first thread 181A and the second thread181B. The link relationship is configured to control a display of thefirst thread 181A and the second thread 181B. In some configurations,operation 508 can be responsive to the identification of the secondthread 181B from the plurality of threads 181B-181N. For example, asshown in FIG. 1B, a data structure is updated in response to theselection of the second thread. The data structure defines the “link”between the threads so when one of the threads is later selected fordisplay, the other thread is displayed, or the user is given the optionto display that linked thread.

At operation 510, the system can cause a client computing device 11D ofthe user 10D to concurrently display the second set of messages 151B ofthe second thread 181B with the first set of messages 151A of the firstthread 181A. Alternatively, operation 510 can cause a display of acontrol with the first set of messages 151A, which, when activated,causes display of the second set of messages 151B. These operations canbe performed maintaining storage of the first set of messages 151A ofthe first thread 181A in a first container 182A separate from storage ofthe second set of messages 151B of the second thread 181B in a secondcontainer 182B.

In some configurations, one or more operations of the routine can alsoinclude receiving a selection of the first thread for display of atleast a portion of the first set of messages. In response to receiving aselection of the first thread for display of at least a portion of thefirst set of messages, analyzing the data structure to verify the linkrelationship between the first thread and the second thread. Then, inresponse to verifying the link relationship between the first thread andthe second thread, the system can automatically cause a display of oneor more messages of the second thread concurrently with the display ofthe at least a portion of the first set of messages. This involves ascenario of an automatic display of a linked thread. Thus, after thelinking is established, when the user opens one of the threads, e.g.,the first thread, the data structure causes a computer to automaticallyopen the linked, e.g., related threads, the second thread.

In some configurations, one or more operations of the routine can alsoinclude receiving a selection of the first thread for display of atleast a portion of the first set of messages. In response to receiving aselection of the first thread for display of at least a portion of thefirst set of messages, the system can analyze the data structure toverify the link relationship between the first thread and the secondthread. Then, in response to verifying the link relationship between thefirst thread and the second thread, the system can cause a display of anotification identifying the second thread as having a link relationshipto the first thread. In response to the notification identifying thesecond thread as having a link relationship to the first thread, causinga display of a user interface element for receiving a user inputconfigured to cause a display of one or more messages of the secondthread concurrently with the display of the first set of messages of thefirst thread.

These operations can provide a notification of a linked thread, whichallows a system to display options for a user to display the relatedthread. This can occur after the link is established. For example, whena user opens one of the threads, e.g., Thread 1, the data structurecauses a computer to display a notice of the linked threads, a relatedthread, such as Thread 2. The system enables the user to initiate thedisplay of the linked threads by providing an input. The display of thegraphical element is optional. For example, the notification can becommunicated by a voice command and the user can provide any suitablegesture for causing the display of the related thread.

In some configurations, one or more operations of the routine can alsoinclude receiving a selection of the first thread for display of atleast a portion of the first set of messages. In response to receiving aselection of the first thread for display of at least a portion of thefirst set of messages, analyzing the data structure to verify the linkrelationship between the first thread and the second thread. In responseto verifying the link relationship between the first thread and thesecond thread, causing a display of a notification identifying thesecond thread as having a link relationship to the first thread. Inresponse to the notification identifying the second thread as having alink relationship to the first thread, displaying a user interfaceelement for receiving a user input causing an update to the datastructure to cancel the link relationship between the first thread andthe second thread. These operations allow the user to unlink the relatedthread. A notification of the linked thread is provided when the useropens one of the threads, e.g., Thread 1. The data structure causes thesystem to display a notice of the linked threads, e.g., Thread 2. Aninput from the user can cause the system to unlink the second threadfrom the first thread.

In some configurations, one or more operations of the routine can alsoinclude analyzing one or more messages 151 of the plurality of threads181B-181N to determine that a second topic 180B of the second thread182B has a threshold level of relevancy to the first topic 180A of thefirst thread 182A. The analysis of the one or more messages 151 of theplurality of threads 181B-181N is limited to threads having at least onecommon user with the first user group of the first thread. The systemcan also select the second thread 181B in response to determining thatthe second topic 180B of the second thread 182B has the threshold levelof relevancy to the first topic 180A of the first thread 182A. This canenable the automatic identification of related threads based on ananalysis of a set of threads that have a common user. This can conservecomputing resources by limiting the analysis of the threads to thethreads that has a common user to the first thread.

In some configurations, in one or more operations of the routine, theindication identifying the second thread is generated by receiving auser input at the client computing device of the user, wherein the userinput identifies the second thread as a selected thread to beconcurrently displayed with the first thread. This can cause a linkingof a thread, e.g., the second thread, thereby making the second thread arelated thread without the need for analysis of the messages. Also, inthe one or more operations of the routine, permission data 182A for thefirst thread 181A may be configured to only allow a first user group117A to view and write to the messages 151A of the first thread 181A.The permission data 182B for the second thread 181B can also beconfigured to only allow a second user group 117B to view and write tothe messages 151B of the second thread 181B. The permission data 117Bcan then be modified to allow the one or more computers of the first setof users to display the messages of the second thread while restrictingthe one or more computers of the first set of users to edit the messagesof the second thread or restricting the one or more computers of thefirst set of users to add new messages to the second thread.

In some configurations, one or more operations of the routine can alsoinclude operations for maintaining separate containers for linkedthreads. Thus, as new messages are received for each thread, the data iswritten to separate containers so each thread can be unlinked at anytime. Thus, the following operations can be added to one or moreoperations of the routine. This can include causing an update to thefirst container to store the first additional message within the firstcontainer, in response to receiving a first additional message directedto the first user group. Then causing a display of the first additionalmessage to be displayed within an arrangement of the first set ofmessages of the first thread. The system can then an update to thesecond container to store the second additional message within thesecond container in response to receiving a second additional messagedirected to the second user group. This can allow the system to displaythe second additional message to be displayed within an arrangement ofthe second set of messages of the second thread, and concurrentlydisplay the second additional message with the first additional message,while allowing the threads to be stored separately. This allows the userto unlink the threads at a later time and preserve security and theautonomous functions of each thread.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example environment 600 in which asystem 602 can implement the techniques disclosed herein. It should beappreciated that the above-described subject matter may be implementedas a computer-controlled apparatus, a computer process, a computingsystem, or as an article of manufacture such as a computer-readablestorage medium. The operations of the example methods are illustrated inindividual blocks and summarized with reference to those blocks. Themethods are illustrated as logical flows of blocks, each block of whichcan represent one or more operations that can be implemented inhardware, software, or a combination thereof. In the context ofsoftware, the operations represent computer-executable instructionsstored on one or more computer-readable media that, when executed by oneor more processors, enable the one or more processors to perform therecited operations.

Generally, computer-executable instructions include routines, programs,objects, modules, components, data structures, and the like that performparticular functions or implement particular abstract data types. Theorder in which the operations are described is not intended to beconstrued as a limitation, and any number of the described operationscan be executed in any order, combined in any order, subdivided intomultiple sub-operations, and/or executed in parallel to implement thedescribed processes. The described processes can be performed byresources associated with one or more device(s) such as one or moreinternal or external CPUs or GPUs, and/or one or more pieces of hardwarelogic such as field-programmable gate arrays (“FPGAs”), digital signalprocessors (“DSPs”), or other types of accelerators.

All of the methods and processes described above may be embodied in, andfully automated via, software code modules executed by one or moregeneral purpose computers or processors. The code modules may be storedin any type of computer-readable storage medium or other computerstorage device, such as those described below. Some or all of themethods may alternatively be embodied in specialized computer hardware,such as that described below.

Any routine descriptions, elements or blocks in the flow diagramsdescribed herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should beunderstood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions ofcode that include one or more executable instructions for implementingspecific logical functions or elements in the routine. Alternateimplementations are included within the scope of the examples describedherein in which elements or functions may be deleted, or executed out oforder from that shown or discussed, including substantiallysynchronously or in reverse order, depending on the functionalityinvolved as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

In some implementations, a system 602 may function to collect, analyze,and share data that is displayed to users of a communication session604. As illustrated, the communication session 603 may be implementedbetween a number of client computing devices 606(1) through 606(N)(where N is a number having a value of two or greater) that areassociated with or are part of the system 602. The client computingdevices 606(1) through 606(N) enable users, also referred to asindividuals, to participate in the communication session 603.

In this example, the communication session 603 is hosted, over one ormore network(s) 608, by the system 602. That is, the system 602 canprovide a service that enables users of the client computing devices606(1) through 606(N) to participate in the communication session 603(e.g., via a live viewing and/or a recorded viewing). Consequently, a“participant” to the communication session 603 can comprise a userand/or a client computing device (e.g., multiple users may be in a roomparticipating in a communication session via the use of a single clientcomputing device), each of which can communicate with otherparticipants. As an alternative, the communication session 603 can behosted by one of the client computing devices 606(1) through 606(N)utilizing peer-to-peer technologies. The system 602 can also host chatconversations and other team collaboration functionality (e.g., as partof an application suite).

In some implementations, such chat conversations and other teamcollaboration functionality are considered external communicationsessions distinct from the communication session 603. A computing system602 that collects participant data in the communication session 603 maybe able to link to such external communication sessions. Therefore, thesystem may receive information, such as date, time, session particulars,and the like, that enables connectivity to such external communicationsessions. In one example, a chat conversation can be conducted inaccordance with the communication session 603. Additionally, the system602 may host the communication session 603, which includes at least aplurality of participants co-located at a meeting location, such as ameeting room or auditorium, or located in disparate locations.

In examples described herein, client computing devices 606(1) through606(N) participating in the communication session 603 are configured toreceive and render for display, on a user interface of a display screen,communication data. The communication data can comprise a collection ofvarious instances, or streams, of live content and/or recorded content.The collection of various instances, or streams, of live content and/orrecorded content may be provided by one or more cameras, such as videocameras. For example, an individual stream of live or recorded contentcan comprise media data associated with a video feed provided by a videocamera (e.g., audio and visual data that capture the appearance andspeech of a user participating in the communication session). In someimplementations, the video feeds may comprise such audio and visualdata, one or more still images, and/or one or more avatars. The one ormore still images may also comprise one or more avatars.

Another example of an individual stream of live or recorded content cancomprise media data that includes an avatar of a user participating inthe communication session along with audio data that captures the speechof the user. Yet another example of an individual stream of live orrecorded content can comprise media data that includes a file displayedon a display screen along with audio data that captures the speech of auser. Accordingly, the various streams of live or recorded contentwithin the communication data enable a remote meeting to be facilitatedbetween a group of people and the sharing of content within the group ofpeople. In some implementations, the various streams of live or recordedcontent within the communication data may originate from a plurality ofco-located video cameras, positioned in a space, such as a room, torecord or stream live a presentation that includes one or moreindividuals presenting and one or more individuals consuming presentedcontent.

A participant or attendee can view content of the communication session603 live as activity occurs, or alternatively, via a recording at alater time after the activity occurs. In the examples described herein,client computing devices 606(1) through 606(N) participating in thecommunication session 603 are configured to receive and render fordisplay, on a user interface of a display screen, communication data.The communication data can comprise a collection of various instances,or streams, of live and/or recorded content. For example, an individualstream of content can comprise media data associated with a video feed(e.g., audio and visual data that capture the appearance and speech of auser participating in the communication session). Another example of anindividual stream of content can comprise media data that includes anavatar of a user participating in the conference session along withaudio data that captures the speech of the user. Yet another example ofan individual stream of content can comprise media data that includes acontent item displayed on a display screen and/or audio data thatcaptures the speech of a user. Accordingly, the various streams ofcontent within the communication data enable a meeting or a broadcastpresentation to be facilitated amongst a group of people dispersedacross remote locations.

A participant or attendee to a communication session is a person that isin range of a camera, or other image and/or audio capture device suchthat actions and/or sounds of the person which are produced while theperson is viewing and/or listening to the content being shared via thecommunication session can be captured (e.g., recorded). For instance, aparticipant may be sitting in a crowd viewing the shared content live ata broadcast location where a stage presentation occurs. Or a participantmay be sitting in an office conference room viewing the shared contentof a communication session with other colleagues via a display screen.Even further, a participant may be sitting or standing in front of apersonal device (e.g., tablet, smartphone, computer, etc.) viewing theshared content of a communication session alone in their office or athome.

The system 602 of FIG. 7 includes device(s) 610. The device(s) 610and/or other components of the system 602 can include distributedcomputing resources that communicate with one another and/or with theclient computing devices 606(1) through 606(N) via the one or morenetwork(s) 608. In some examples, the system 602 may be an independentsystem that is tasked with managing aspects of one or more communicationsessions such as communication session 603. As an example, the system602 may be managed by entities such as SLACK, WEBEX, GOTOMEETING, GOOGLEHANGOUTS, etc.

Network(s) 608 may include, for example, public networks such as theInternet, private networks such as an institutional and/or personalintranet, or some combination of private and public networks. Network(s)608 may also include any type of wired and/or wireless network,including but not limited to local area networks (“LANs”), wide areanetworks (“WANs”), satellite networks, cable networks, Wi-Fi networks,WiMax networks, mobile communications networks (e.g., 3G, 4G, and soforth) or any combination thereof. Network(s) 608 may utilizecommunications protocols, including packet-based and/or datagram-basedprotocols such as Internet protocol (“IP”), transmission controlprotocol (“TCP”), user datagram protocol (“UDP”), or other types ofprotocols. Moreover, network(s) 608 may also include a number of devicesthat facilitate network communications and/or form a hardware basis forthe networks, such as switches, routers, gateways, access points,firewalls, base stations, repeaters, backbone devices, and the like.

In some examples, network(s) 608 may further include devices that enableconnection to a wireless network, such as a wireless access point(“WAP”). Examples support connectivity through WAPs that send andreceive data over various electromagnetic frequencies (e.g., radiofrequencies), including WAPs that support Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (“IEEE”) 802.11 standards (e.g., 802.11g, 802.11n,802.11ac and so forth), and other standards.

In various examples, device(s) 610 may include one or more computingdevices that operate in a cluster or other grouped configuration toshare resources, balance load, increase performance, provide fail-oversupport or redundancy, or for other purposes. For instance, device(s)610 may belong to a variety of classes of devices such as traditionalserver-type devices, desktop computer-type devices, and/or mobile-typedevices. Thus, although illustrated as a single type of device or aserver-type device, device(s) 610 may include a diverse variety ofdevice types and are not limited to a particular type of device.Device(s) 610 may represent, but are not limited to, server computers,desktop computers, web-server computers, personal computers, mobilecomputers, laptop computers, tablet computers, or any other sort ofcomputing device.

A client computing device (e.g., one of client computing device(s)606(1) through 606(N)) (each of which are also referred to herein as a“data processing system”) may belong to a variety of classes of devices,which may be the same as, or different from, device(s) 610, such astraditional client-type devices, desktop computer-type devices,mobile-type devices, special purpose-type devices, embedded-typedevices, and/or wearable-type devices. Thus, a client computing devicecan include, but is not limited to, a desktop computer, a game consoleand/or a gaming device, a tablet computer, a personal data assistant(“PDA”), a mobile phone/tablet hybrid, a laptop computer, atelecommunication device, a computer navigation type client computingdevice such as a satellite-based navigation system including a globalpositioning system (“GPS”) device, a wearable device, a virtual reality(“VR”) device, an augmented reality (“AR”) device, an implantedcomputing device, an automotive computer, a network-enabled television,a thin client, a terminal, an Internet of Things (“IoT”) device, a workstation, a media player, a personal video recorder (“PVR”), a set-topbox, a camera, an integrated component (e.g., a peripheral device) forinclusion in a computing device, an appliance, or any other sort ofcomputing device. Moreover, the client computing device may include acombination of the earlier listed examples of the client computingdevice such as, for example, desktop computer-type devices or amobile-type device in combination with a wearable device, etc.

Client computing device(s) 606(1) through 606(N) of the various classesand device types can represent any type of computing device having oneor more data processing unit(s) 692 operably connected tocomputer-readable media 694 such as via a bus 616, which in someinstances can include one or more of a system bus, a data bus, anaddress bus, a PCI bus, a Mini-PCI bus, and any variety of local,peripheral, and/or independent buses.

Executable instructions stored on computer-readable media 694 mayinclude, for example, an operating system 619, a client module 620, aprofile module 622, and other modules, programs, or applications thatare loadable and executable by data processing units(s) 692.

Client computing device(s) 606(1) through 606(N) may also include one ormore interface(s) 624 to enable communications between client computingdevice(s) 606(1) through 606(N) and other networked devices, such asdevice(s) 610, over network(s) 608. Such network interface(s) 624 mayinclude one or more network interface controllers (NICs) or other typesof transceiver devices to send and receive communications and/or dataover a network. Moreover, client computing device(s) 606(1) through606(N) can include input/output (“I/O”) interfaces (devices) 626 thatenable communications with input/output devices such as user inputdevices including peripheral input devices (e.g., a game controller, akeyboard, a mouse, a pen, a voice input device such as a microphone, avideo camera for obtaining and providing video feeds and/or stillimages, a touch input device, a gestural input device, and the like)and/or output devices including peripheral output devices (e.g., adisplay, a printer, audio speakers, a haptic output device, and thelike). FIG. 6 illustrates that client computing device 606(1) is in someway connected to a display device (e.g., a display screen 629(N)), whichcan display a UI according to the techniques described herein.

In the example environment 600 of FIG. 7 , client computing devices606(1) through 606(N) may use their respective client modules 620 toconnect with one another and/or other external device(s) in order toparticipate in the communication session 603, or in order to contributeactivity to a collaboration environment. For instance, a first user mayutilize a client computing device 606(1) to communicate with a seconduser of another client computing device 606(2). When executing clientmodules 620, the users may share data, which may cause the clientcomputing device 606(1) to connect to the system 602 and/or the otherclient computing devices 606(2) through 606(N) over the network(s) 608.

The client computing device(s) 606(1) through 606(N) may use theirrespective profile modules 622 to generate participant profiles (notshown in FIG. 7 ) and provide the participant profiles to other clientcomputing devices and/or to the device(s) 610 of the system 602. Aparticipant profile may include one or more of an identity of a user ora group of users (e.g., a name, a unique identifier (“ID”), etc.), userdata such as personal data, machine data such as location (e.g., an IPaddress, a room in a building, etc.) and technical capabilities, etc.Participant profiles may be utilized to register participants forcommunication sessions.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the device(s) 610 of the system 602 include aserver module 630 and an output module 632. In this example, the servermodule 630 is configured to receive, from individual client computingdevices such as client computing devices 606(1) through 606(N), mediastreams 634(1) through 634(N). As described above, media streams cancomprise a video feed (e.g., audio and visual data associated with auser), audio data which is to be output with a presentation of an avatarof a user (e.g., an audio only experience in which video data of theuser is not transmitted), text data (e.g., text messages), file dataand/or screen sharing data (e.g., a document, a slide deck, an image, avideo displayed on a display screen, etc.), and so forth. Thus, theserver module 630 is configured to receive a collection of various mediastreams 634(1) through 634(N) during a live viewing of the communicationsession 603 (the collection being referred to herein as “media data634”). In some scenarios, not all of the client computing devices thatparticipate in the communication session 603 provide a media stream. Forexample, a client computing device may only be a consuming, or a“listening”, device such that it only receives content associated withthe communication session 603 but does not provide any content to thecommunication session 603.

In various examples, the server module 630 can select aspects of themedia streams 634 that are to be shared with individual ones of theparticipating client computing devices 606(1) through 606(N).Consequently, the server module 630 may be configured to generatesession data 636 based on the streams 634 and/or pass the session data636 to the output module 632. Then, the output module 632 maycommunicate communication data 639 to the client computing devices(e.g., client computing devices 606(1) through 606(3) participating in alive viewing of the communication session). The communication data 639may include video, audio, and/or other content data, provided by theoutput module 632 based on content 650 associated with the output module632 and based on received session data 636. The content 650 can includethe streams 634 or other shared data, such as an image file, aspreadsheet file, a slide deck, a document, etc. The streams 634 caninclude a video component depicting images captured by an I/O device 626on each client computer.

As shown, the output module 632 transmits communication data 639(1) toclient computing device 606(1), and transmits communication data 639(2)to client computing device 606(2), and transmits communication data639(3) to client computing device 606(3), etc. The communication data639 transmitted to the client computing devices can be the same or canbe different (e.g., positioning of streams of content within a userinterface may vary from one device to the next).

In various implementations, the device(s) 610 and/or the client module620 can include GUI presentation module 640. The GUI presentation module640 may be configured to analyze communication data 639 that is fordelivery to one or more of the client computing devices 606.Specifically, the UI presentation module 640, at the device(s) 610and/or the client computing device 606, may analyze communication data639 to determine an appropriate manner for displaying video, image,and/or content on the display screen 629 of an associated clientcomputing device 606. In some implementations, the GUI presentationmodule 640 may provide video, image, and/or content to a presentationGUI 646 rendered on the display screen 629 of the associated clientcomputing device 606. The presentation GUI 646 may be caused to berendered on the display screen 629 by the GUI presentation module 640.The presentation GUI 646 may include the video, image, and/or contentanalyzed by the GUI presentation module 640.

In some implementations, the presentation GUI 646 may include aplurality of sections or grids that may render or comprise video, image,and/or content for display on the display screen 629. For example, afirst section of the presentation GUI 646 may include a video feed of apresenter or individual, a second section of the presentation GUI 646may include a video feed of an individual consuming meeting informationprovided by the presenter or individual. The GUI presentation module 640may populate the first and second sections of the presentation GUI 646in a manner that properly imitates an environment experience that thepresenter and the individual may be sharing.

In some implementations, the GUI presentation module 640 may enlarge orprovide a zoomed view of the individual represented by the video feed inorder to highlight a reaction, such as a facial feature, the individualhad to the presenter. In some implementations, the presentation GUI 646may include a video feed of a plurality of participants associated witha meeting, such as a general communication session. In otherimplementations, the presentation GUI 646 may be associated with achannel, such as a chat channel, enterprise Teams channel, or the like.Therefore, the presentation GUI 646 may be associated with an externalcommunication session that is different from the general communicationsession.

FIG. 8 illustrates a diagram that shows example components of an exampledevice 700 (also referred to herein as a “computing device”) configuredto generate data for some of the user interfaces disclosed herein. Thedevice 700 may generate data that may include one or more sections thatmay render or comprise video, images, virtual objects, and/or contentfor display on the display screen 629. The device 700 may represent oneof the device(s) described herein. The device 700 may represent one ofany of the devices disclosed herein, e.g., device 606 of FIG. 7 , device11 of FIG. 1 , or a server 602 of FIG. 7 .

As illustrated, the device 700 includes one or more data processingunit(s) 702, computer-readable media 704, and communication interface(s)706. The components of the device 700 are operatively connected, forexample, via a bus 709, which may include one or more of a system bus, adata bus, an address bus, a PCI bus, a Mini-PCI bus, and any variety oflocal, peripheral, and/or independent buses.

As utilized herein, data processing unit(s), such as the data processingunit(s) 702 and/or data processing unit(s) 692, may represent, forexample, a CPU-type data processing unit, a GPU-type data processingunit, a field-programmable gate array (“FPGA”), another class of DSP, orother hardware logic components that may, in some instances, be drivenby a CPU. For example, and without limitation, illustrative types ofhardware logic components that may be utilized includeApplication-Specific Integrated Circuits (“ASICs”), Application-SpecificStandard Products (“ASSPs”), System-on-a-Chip Systems (“SOCs”), ComplexProgrammable Logic Devices (“CPLDs”), etc.

As utilized herein, computer-readable media, such as computer-readablemedia 704 and computer-readable media 694, may store instructionsexecutable by the data processing unit(s). The computer-readable mediamay also store instructions executable by external data processing unitssuch as by an external CPU, an external GPU, and/or executable by anexternal accelerator, such as an FPGA type accelerator, a DSP typeaccelerator, or any other internal or external accelerator. In variousexamples, at least one CPU, GPU, and/or accelerator is incorporated in acomputing device, while in some examples one or more of a CPU, GPU,and/or accelerator is external to a computing device.

Computer-readable media, which might also be referred to herein as acomputer-readable medium, may include computer storage media and/orcommunication media. Computer storage media may include one or more ofvolatile memory, nonvolatile memory, and/or other persistent and/orauxiliary computer storage media, removable and non-removable computerstorage media implemented in any method or technology for storage ofinformation such as computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data. Thus, computer storage media includestangible and/or physical forms of media included in a device and/orhardware component that is part of a device or external to a device,including but not limited to random access memory (“RAM”), staticrandom-access memory (“SRAM”), dynamic random-access memory (“DRAM”),phase change memory (“PCM”), read-only memory (“ROM”), erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EPROM”), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (“EEPROM”), flash memory, compact discread-only memory (“CD-ROM”), digital versatile disks (“DVDs”), opticalcards or other optical storage media, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape,magnetic disk storage, magnetic cards or other magnetic storage devicesor media, solid-state memory devices, storage arrays, network attachedstorage, storage area networks, hosted computer storage or any otherstorage memory, storage device, and/or storage medium that can be usedto store and maintain information for access by a computing device. Thecomputer storage media can also be referred to herein ascomputer-readable storage media, non-transitory computer-readablestorage media, non-transitory computer-readable medium, or computerstorage medium.

In contrast to computer storage media, communication media may embodycomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrier wave, or othertransmission mechanism. As defined herein, computer storage media doesnot include communication media. That is, computer storage media doesnot include communications media consisting solely of a modulated datasignal, a carrier wave, or a propagated signal, per se. In one example,the computer storage media can be block 704 in FIG. 8 or block 694 inFIG. 7 .

Communication interface(s) 706 may represent, for example, networkinterface controllers (“NICs”) or other types of transceiver devices tosend and receive communications over a network. Furthermore, thecommunication interface(s) 706 may include one or more video camerasand/or audio devices 722 to enable generation of video feeds and/orstill images, and so forth.

In the illustrated example, computer-readable media 704, which can alsobe storage media, includes a data store 708. In some examples, the datastore 708 includes data storage such as a database, data warehouse, orother type of structured or unstructured data storage. In some examples,the data store 708 includes a corpus and/or a relational database withone or more tables, indices, stored procedures, and so forth to enabledata access including one or more of hypertext markup language (“HTML”)tables, resource description framework (“RDF”) tables, web ontologylanguage (“OWL”) tables, and/or extensible markup language (“XML”)tables, for example.

The data store 708 may store data for the operations of processes,applications, components, and/or modules stored in computer-readablemedia 704 and/or executed by data processing unit(s) 702 and/oraccelerator(s). For instance, in some examples, the data store 708 maystore session data (e.g., session data 636 as shown in FIG. 7 ), threadcontainer data 710, which is referred to herein as a thread container,permission data 712 (e.g., the data structures shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2Aand 2B), and/or other data such as input data 714, which can includevoice commands, a mouse input, a touch input or other definitions ofinput gestures. The session data can include a total number ofparticipants (e.g., users and/or client computing devices) in acommunication session, activity that occurs in the communicationsession, a list of invitees to the communication session, and/or otherdata related to when and how the communication session is conducted orhosted. The data store 708 may also include contextual data, such as thecontent that includes video, audio, or other content for rendering anddisplay on one or more of the display screens 629. Hardware data candefine aspects of any device, such as a number of display screens of acomputer. APIs 711 can also be provided to allow the client computers tocommunicate with the server. The contextual data can define any type ofactivity or status related to the individual users 10A-10F eachassociated with individual video streams of a plurality of video streams634. For instance, the contextual data can define a person's level in anorganization, how each person's level relates to the level of others, aperformance level of a person, or any other activity or statusinformation that can be used to determine a position for a rendering ofa person within a virtual environment.

Alternately, some or all of the above-referenced data can be stored onseparate memories 716 on board one or more data processing unit(s) 702such as a memory on board a CPU-type processor, a GPU-type processor, anFPGA-type accelerator, a DSP-type accelerator, and/or anotheraccelerator. In this example, the computer-readable media 704 alsoincludes an operating system 718 and application programminginterface(s) (APIs) configured to expose the functionality and the dataof the device 700 to other devices. Additionally, the computer-readablemedia 704 includes one or more modules such as the server module 730,the output module 732, and the GUI presentation module 740, although thenumber of illustrated modules is just an example, and the number mayvary. That is, functionality described herein in association with theillustrated modules may be performed by a fewer number of modules or alarger number of modules on one device or spread across multipledevices.

In closing, although the various configurations have been described inlanguage specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, itis to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appendedrepresentations is not necessarily limited to the specific features oracts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claimed subject matter.

1. A method for identifying and displaying related message threads of acommunication system, the method comprising: receiving communicationdata comprising a first thread having a first set of messages associatedwith a first user group; receiving an indication identifying a secondthread from a plurality of threads each associated with individual usergroups, wherein the indication is provided by a user that haspermissions to read and write messages with the first thread and thesecond thread, wherein the indication is provided by receiving a userinput at a graphical element, wherein the second thread comprises asecond set of messages associated with a second user group, wherein theuser is a common member of the first user group and the second usergroup; responsive to the identification of the second thread from theplurality of threads, causing an update to a data structure to maintaina link relationship between the first thread and the second thread,wherein the link relationship is configured to control a display of thefirst thread and the second thread; and causing a client computingdevice of the user to concurrently display the second set of messages ofthe second thread with the first set of messages of the first thread, orto display a control with the first set of messages, which, whenactivated, causes display of the second set of messages.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: receiving a selection of the firstthread for display of at least a portion of the first set of messages;in response to receiving a selection of the first thread for display ofat least a portion of the first set of messages, analyzing the datastructure to verify the link relationship between the first thread andthe second thread; and in response to verifying the link relationshipbetween the first thread and the second thread, automatically displayingone or more messages of the second thread concurrently with the displayof the at least a portion of the first set of messages.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: receiving a selection of the first threadfor display of at least a portion of the first set of messages; inresponse to receiving a selection of the first thread for display of atleast a portion of the first set of messages, analyzing the datastructure to verify the link relationship between the first thread andthe second thread; in response to verifying the link relationshipbetween the first thread and the second thread, causing a display of anotification identifying the second thread as having a link relationshipto the first thread; and in response to the notification identifying thesecond thread as having a link relationship to the first thread, causinga display of a user interface element for receiving a user inputconfigured to cause a display of one or more messages of the secondthread concurrently with the display of the first set of messages of thefirst thread.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving aselection of the first thread for display of at least a portion of thefirst set of messages; in response to receiving a selection of the firstthread for display of at least a portion of the first set of messages,analyzing the data structure to verify the link relationship between thefirst thread and the second thread; in response to verifying the linkrelationship between the first thread and the second thread, causing adisplay of a notification identifying the second thread as having a linkrelationship to the first thread; and in response to the notificationidentifying the second thread as having a link relationship to the firstthread, causing a display of a user interface element for receiving auser input configured to cause an update to the data structure to cancelthe link relationship between the first thread and the second thread. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the indication identifying the secondthread is generated by a method comprising: analyzing one or moremessages of the plurality of threads to determine that a second topic ofthe second thread has a threshold level of relevancy to the first topicof the first thread, wherein the analysis of the one or more messages ofthe plurality of threads is limited to threads having at least onecommon user with the first user group of the first thread; and selectingthe second thread in response to determining that the second topic ofthe second thread has the threshold level of relevancy to the firsttopic of the first thread.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theindication identifying the second thread is generated by receiving auser input at the client computing device of the user, wherein the userinput identifies the second thread as a selected thread to beconcurrently displayed with the first thread.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein permission data for the first thread only allows a first usergroup to view and write to the messages of the first thread, whereinpermission data for the second thread only allows a second user group toview and write to the messages of the second thread, wherein thepermission data is modified to allow the one or more computers of thefirst set of users to display the messages of the second thread whilerestricting the one or more computers of the first set of users to editthe messages of the second thread or restricting the one or morecomputers of the first set of users to add new messages to the secondthread.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response toreceiving a first additional message directed to the first user group,causing an update to the first container to store the first additionalmessage within the first container; causing a display of the firstadditional message to be displayed within an arrangement of the firstset of messages of the first thread; in response to receiving a secondadditional message directed to the second user group, causing an updateto the second container to store the second additional message withinthe second container; and causing a display of the second additionalmessage to be displayed within an arrangement of the second set ofmessages of the second thread, wherein the second additional message isconcurrently displayed with the first additional message.
 9. The methodof claim 1, wherein the client computing device of the user concurrentlydisplays the second set of messages of the second thread with at least aportion of the first set of messages of the first thread whilemaintaining storage of the first set of messages of the first thread ina first container separate from storage of the second set of messages ofthe second thread in a second container.
 10. A computing device forcoordinating customized message threads for a plurality of users,comprising: one or more processing units; and a computer-readablestorage medium having encoded thereon computer-executable instructionsto cause the one or more processing units to: receive communication datacomprising a first thread having a first set of messages associated witha first user group, wherein the first set of messages of the firstthread are displayed on a user interface rendered on a client computingdevice of a user; receiving an indication identifying a second threadfrom a plurality of threads each associated with individual user groups,wherein the indication is provided by a user that has permissions toread and write messages with the first thread and the second thread,wherein the indication is provided by receiving a user input at agraphical element, wherein the second thread comprises a second set ofmessages associated with a second user group, wherein the user is acommon member of the first user group and the second user group;responsive to the identification of the second thread from the pluralityof threads, cause an update to a data structure to maintain a linkrelationship between the first thread and the second thread, wherein thelink relationship is configured to control a display of the first threadand the second thread; and cause the client computing device of the userto concurrently display the second set of messages of the second threadwith the first set of messages of the first thread, or to display acontrol with the first set of messages, which, when activated, causesdisplay of the second set of messages while maintaining storage of thefirst set of messages of the first thread in a first container separatefrom storage of the second set of messages of the second thread in asecond container.
 11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein theinstructions further cause the one or more processing units to: receivea selection of the first thread for display of at least a portion of thefirst set of messages; in response to receiving a selection of the firstthread for display of at least a portion of the first set of messages,analyze the data structure to verify the link relationship between thefirst thread and the second thread; and in response to verifying thelink relationship between the first thread and the second thread,automatically display one or more messages of the second threadconcurrently with the display of the at least a portion of the first setof messages.
 12. The computing device of claim 10, wherein theinstructions further cause the one or more processing units to: receivea selection of the first thread for display of at least a portion of thefirst set of messages; in response to receiving a selection of the firstthread for display of at least a portion of the first set of messages,analyze the data structure to verify the link relationship between thefirst thread and the second thread; in response to verifying the linkrelationship between the first thread and the second thread, cause adisplay of a notification identifying the second thread as having a linkrelationship to the first thread; and receive a user input causing adisplay of one or more messages of the second thread concurrently withthe display of the first set of messages of the first thread.
 13. Thecomputing device of claim 10, wherein the instructions further cause theone or more processing units to: receive a selection of the first threadfor display of at least a portion of the first set of messages; inresponse to receiving a selection of the first thread for display of atleast a portion of the first set of messages, analyze the data structureto verify the link relationship between the first thread and the secondthread; in response to verifying the link relationship between the firstthread and the second thread, cause a display of a notificationidentifying the second thread as having a link relationship to the firstthread; and receive a user input causing an update to the data structureto cancel the link relationship between the first thread and the secondthread.
 14. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the indicationidentifying the second thread is generated by a method comprising:analyzing one or more messages of the plurality of threads to determinethat a second topic of the second thread has a threshold level ofrelevancy to the first topic of the first thread, wherein the analysisof the one or more messages of the plurality of threads is limited tothreads having at least one common user with the first user group of thefirst thread; and selecting the second thread in response to determiningthat the second topic of the second thread has the threshold level ofrelevancy to the first topic of the first thread.
 15. The computingdevice of claim 10, wherein the indication identifying the second threadis generated by receiving a user input at the client computing device ofthe user, wherein the user input identifies the second thread as aselected thread to be concurrently displayed with the first thread. 16.One or more computer-readable storage media having encoded thereoncomputer-executable instructions to cause the one or more processingunits of a system to: receive communication data comprising a firstthread having a first set of messages associated with a first usergroup, wherein the first set of messages of the first thread aredisplayed on a user interface rendered on a client computing device of auser; receiving an indication identifying a second thread from aplurality of threads each associated with individual user groups,wherein the indication is provided by a user that has permissions toread and write messages with the first thread and the second thread,wherein the indication is provided by receiving a user input at agraphical element, wherein the second thread comprises a second set ofmessages associated with a second user group, wherein the user is acommon member of the first user group and the second user group;responsive to the identification of the second thread from the pluralityof threads, cause an update to a data structure to maintain a linkrelationship between the first thread and the second thread, wherein thelink relationship is configured to control a display of the first threadand the second thread; and cause the client computing device of the userto concurrently display the second set of messages of the second threadwith the first set of messages of the first thread, or to display acontrol with the first set of messages, which, when activated, causesdisplay of the second set of messages.
 17. The one or morecomputer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein permission data forthe first thread only allows a first user group to view and write to themessages of the first thread, wherein permission data for the secondthread only allows a second user group to view and write to the messagesof the second thread, wherein the permission data is modified to allowthe one or more computers of the first set of users to display themessages of the second thread while restricting the one or morecomputers of the first set of users to edit the messages of the secondthread or restricting the one or more computers of the first set ofusers to add new messages to the second thread, wherein the second setof messages and the first set of messages are concurrent displayed whilethe separate storage of the first set of messages of the first thread inthe first container and storage of the second set of messages of thesecond thread in a second container is maintained.
 18. The one or morecomputer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein the instructionsfurther cause the one or more processing units of the system to: inresponse to receiving a first additional message directed to the firstuser group, cause an update to the first container to store the firstadditional message within the first container; cause a display of thefirst additional message to be displayed within an arrangement of thefirst set of messages of the first thread; in response to receiving asecond additional message directed to the second user group, cause anupdate to the second container to store the second additional messagewithin the second container; and cause a display of the secondadditional message to be displayed within an arrangement of the secondset of messages of the second thread, wherein the second additionalmessage is concurrently displayed with the first additional message. 18.The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 16, wherein theclient computing device of the user concurrently displays the second setof messages of the second thread with at least a portion of the firstset of messages of the first thread while maintaining storage of thefirst set of messages of the first thread in a first container separatefrom storage of the second set of messages of the second thread in asecond container.
 20. The one or more computer-readable storage media ofclaim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the one or moreprocessing units of the system to: receive a selection of the firstthread for display of at least a portion of the first set of messages;in response to receiving a selection of the first thread for display ofat least a portion of the first set of messages, analyze the datastructure to verify the link relationship between the first thread andthe second thread; and in response to verifying the link relationshipbetween the first thread and the second thread, automatically displayone or more messages of the second thread concurrently with the displayof the at least a portion of the first set of messages.